CHUCK STARK | Controversial ending was perfectly fitting

Officials discuss the final play of the game as Green Bay Packers' Charles Woodson, second from right, and Seattle Seahawks' Earl Thomas, right, leave the field in the second half of an NFL football game, Monday, Sept. 24, 2012, in Seattle. The final play was ruled a Seattle touchdown as the Seahawks defeated the Packers 14-12. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

SEATTLE - It's been said you can call a penalty on every play in the NFL if you wanted to.

The replacement officials who worked the Monday Night Football game at CenturyLink Field did their best to prove that old adage correct.

But those officials refused to throw a flag on the final play — and the result was one of the craziest and most controversial games in Seattle, if not NFL, history.

A disputed ending was not what the league wanted showcased on national television, but there were so many bizarre calls — and non-calls — leading up to it that the ending was perfectly fitting.

Down to their last play with eight seconds left and trailing Green Bay 12-7, Seahawks rookie quarterback Russell Wilson flung up a pass to the left corner of the end zone. Teammate Golden Tate got away with a major infraction, shoving the Packers' Sam Shield to the ground, before going high for the ball. The Packers M.D. Jennings went higher and appeared to make the interception, but Tate managed to get his hands on the ball and somehow got a favorable call — simultaneous catch was the ruling — from an officiating crew that brought more embarrassment to the league on a night they called 24 penalties.

"Welcome to flag football," said the guy next to me in the press box.

"Can we boo?" said another.

"How about throwing up," chimed in a third scribe.

The Seahawks, understandably, were all giddy about their 14-12 victory, one that ended in confusion as the Packers had to dig their helmets out of storage and come back on to the field for the extra point nearly 15 minutes after it had been announced after a review that "the ruling on the field stands."

"Once I saw our offensive linemen smiling, I figured something good had happened," Tate said of his second touchdown catch of the game.

The first, a 41-yard reception in the middle of the second quarter, was the only score in a surreal first half that was dominated by the

Seahawks' aggressive defense. Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers was sacked eight times. Yeah, Ocho Oucho! Chris Clemons tied an NFL record with four sacks in a half, and rookie Bruce Irvin had two. Rodgers even somehow tackled himself without getting hit by anybody for another sack.

"It's awful, that's all I'm going to say about it," Rodgers said. He was talking about the ruling on the last play, not the invisible tackle.

Packers coach Mike McCarthy also bit his tongue.

"It was very unusual — the most unusual football game I've ever been part of," he said.

NFL television ratings continues to go through the roof and the league continues to rake in billions, but it's time to get the real refs back on the field.

As exciting as the ending was for the Seahawks and their fans, the officiating cheapened the outcome.

"The integrity of the game is too important not to get 'em back," Seattle tight end Zach Miller said.

"It's a very, very complex process to handle these games and make these decisions," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said when asked about the replacement officials. "There's nothing easy about it, and it takes years and years of experience to pull it off properly, and in a timely fashion and to keep the flow of the game alive and all that and it's time for it to be over. The league deserves it, everybody deserves it."

Everybody had an opinion about the simultaneous catch, and everybody on Seattle's side thought the call was right.